Stonehenge by Francis Pryor The Story of a Sacred Landscape

Throughout, the author includes drawings, photographs, and diagrams that facilitate understanding of the complexity of these ancient sites. Pryor’s journalistic writing and vast knowledge make this a joy for historians and armchair archaeologists alike.
-Kirkus

Synopsis

An illustrated, evocative narrative of the nature and history of Stonehenge that places the enigmatic stone megaliths in a wider cultural context.

Perched on the chalk uplands of Salisbury Plain, the megaliths of Stonehenge offer one of the most recognizable outlines of any ancient structure. Its purpose―place of worship, sacrificial arena, giant calendar―is unknown, but its story is one of the most extraordinary of any of the world's prehistoric monuments.

Constructed in several phases over a period of some 1500 years, beginning in 3000 BC, Stonehenge's key elements are its “bluestones,” transported from West Wales by unexplained means, and its sarsen stones quarried from the nearby Marlborough Downs.

Francis Pryor delivers a rigorous account of the nature and history of Stonehenge, but also places the enigmatic monument in a wider cultural context, bringing acute insight into how antiquarians, scholars, writers, artists–and even neopagans―have interpreted the mystery over the centuries.

Dr Francis Pryor has spent thirty years studying the prehistory of the Fens. He has excavated sites as diverse as Bronze Age farms, field systems and entire Iron Age villages. From 1980 he turned his attention to pre-Roman religion and has excavated barrows, henges and a large site dating to 3800 B.C. In 1987, with his wife Maisie Taylor, he set up the Fenland Archaeological Trust. He appears frequently on TVs Time Team and is the author of Seahenge, Britain B.C. and Britain A.D.

Critic reviews for Stonehenge
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Kirkus

on
Oct 31 2017

Throughout, the author includes drawings, photographs, and diagrams that facilitate understanding of the complexity of these ancient sites. Pryor’s journalistic writing and vast knowledge make this a joy for historians and armchair archaeologists alike.